Crimping devices are widely used in industry to seal containers. For example, in production lines for the production of certain pharmaceutical products, a container having a flange is first filled with the product (e.g., a liquid) and then a stopper (septum) is inserted into the opening of the container. Finally, the container is sealed by a cap (e.g., made of aluminium) through crimping the cap around the flange of the container. The crimping is performed by a crimping device comprising a circular disc, which deforms the cap beneath the flange of the container while the container is rotated about its axis.
A known crimping device has a circular disc made of hardened steel exhibiting a high durability. The circular disc is arranged so as to only contact (and deform) the cap to be crimped around the flange. But it may occur that during the process of crimping, the circular disc made of hardened steel strikes against the container anyway. Since the containers are often glass vials, such striking of the circular disc with the glass vials may result in scratches being formed on the glass vials. These scratches may weaken or damage the glass vials or even break the glass vials. Cracks or fissures in the glass vial may cause the vial's contents to leak out. Any of these occurrences could cause contamination of the vial's contents.